James Paul Lankford (born March 4, 1968) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Oklahoma, a seat he has held since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2015. From 1996 to 2009, Lankford was the student ministries and evangelism specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and director of the youth programming at the Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center in Davis, Oklahoma. In January 2014, Lankford announced he would run in the 2014 U.S. Senate special election following Tom Coburn's planned resignation from the Senate. He won the June 2014 primary with 57% of the vote, becoming the Republican nominee. He won the special election with nearly 68% of the vote and was elected to the balance of Coburn's term. He was reelected in 2016, again with nearly 68% of the vote, and in 2022, with 64% of the vote. He became the senior senator in 2023 after Senator Jim Inhofe retired. Early life, education and career Lankford was born March 4, 1968, in Dallas, Texas, the son of Linda Joyce (née House) and James Wesley Lankford. His mother was an elementary school librarian. His maternal grandparents owned a small dry-cleaning business, his father and paternal grandparents a dairy farm. His stepfather was a career employee of AC Delco, the parts division of General Motors. His parents divorced when he was four; he lived with his mother and older brother for a time in his grandparents' garage apartment. He became a Christian at eight. His mother remarried when he was twelve, and the family moved to Garland, Texas, with his stepfather. Lankford attended Lakeview Centennial High School in Garland. While there, he participated in the Close Up Washington civic education program. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education (specializing in speech and history) at University of Texas at Austin in 1990, and a master's degree in Divinity at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1994. He was a substitute teacher and speech team assistant teacher at Pflugerville High School in 1991. After graduating, Lankford moved to Edmond, a suburb of Oklahoma City, where he still lives. He worked for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. From 1996 to 2005, he was the program director of Falls Creek, the largest Christian camp in the U.S. U.S. House of Representatives Elections 2010